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Comparative analysis of methanogen diversity in the rumen of crossbred buffalo and cattle in the Philippines by using the functional gene mcrA

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Abstract

Comparative analyses of methanogen diversity in the rumen of crossbred buffalo and cattle fed the same diet in the Philippines was performed by cloning the methyl coenzyme M reductase A (mcrA) gene. The cattle and buffalo libraries consisted of 50 clones each. Comparative analysis of the amino acid sequence revealed that these 2 libraries differed significantly (P < 0.01). The deduced amino acid sequences of the clones were classified into 9 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in buffalo and 11 OTUs in cattle. Sequence similarity between the clones and known cultured methanogens ranged from 86 to 97 % for buffalo and 84 to 99 % for cattle. Methanobrevibacter species were predominant in buffalo (64 % of the clones), and an unknown mcrA was predominant in cattle (52 % of the clones). A large number of clones with low similarity to cultivated methanogens was observed in both buffalo and cattle, suggesting the presence of an unknown methanogen species in their rumen.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (22580308), and the Center of Excellence of Graduate School of Bioresources, Mie University. Nucleotide sequencing was performed at the Life Science Research Center (Center for Molecular Biology and Genetics), Mie University (Tsu, Japan).

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  1. Tsutomu Fujihara

    Present address: Philippine Carabao Center, National Headquarters and Gene Pool, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Bioresources, Mie University, 1577 Kurimamachiya-cho, Tsu, Mie, 514-8507, Japan

    Khin-Ohnmar Lwin, Hiroki Matsui, Tomomi Ban-Tokuda, Makoto Kondo & Tsutomu Fujihara

  2. Philippine Carabao Center, University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines

    Rosalina M. Lapitan, Jesus Rommel V. Herrera & Arnel N. Del-Barrio

Authors
  1. Khin-Ohnmar Lwin
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  2. Hiroki Matsui
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  3. Tomomi Ban-Tokuda
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  4. Makoto Kondo
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  5. Rosalina M. Lapitan
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  6. Jesus Rommel V. Herrera
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  7. Arnel N. Del-Barrio
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  8. Tsutomu Fujihara
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Correspondence to Hiroki Matsui.

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Lwin, KO., Matsui, H., Ban-Tokuda, T. et al. Comparative analysis of methanogen diversity in the rumen of crossbred buffalo and cattle in the Philippines by using the functional gene mcrA . Mol Biol Rep 39, 10769–10774 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-1969-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-1969-1

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